Thursday, September 8, 2016

Wow, and to think I was doing a good job keeping this thing updated until the book came out. Oh well. A short stint in jail will do that, I suppose. (Kidding, for those of you who don't know me.)

So here's a rundown of what's happened book-wise since DON'T GET CAUGHT came out on April 1st, along with a bunch of terribly uninteresting pictures.

1. Joseph-Beth Launch Party.

According to the J-B manager, I had something like 125 people show up for my reading/signing. I knew every single one of them, minus one kid who was 12 who'd read my book in one day and wanted to meet me. It was a great, great night.

This was my first non-family attended event after the book came out and where I learned I'm pretty good at hand-selling books to people walking by. Barnes and Noble's had ordered twelve books for me, and I sold all of them in a couple of hours. I then had to dip into my personal stash of books, and sold those, too. Yay my Svengali-like powers! I also got to meet Mindy McGinnis and Natalie Richards, who are both fantastic, and John Scalzi, who told me a fun story about his lunch with Tom Hanks.

There were more people at the event that are in this picture, I swear.

3. Radio Interviews.

I did two interviews, one with Mark Perzel of WVXU's The Book Club, and another with Rodney Lear of Sunday Morning Magazine. Both were a lot of fun. The Book Club interview has since aired twice, and I got a personal tour of the radio station by Perzel. Because I'm an egomaniac I tried to listen to myself on the radio, but I couldn't stand my voice and had to turn it off.

3. Athens Public Library.

In June I traveled down (and across) to Athens, Ohio, where I attended Ohio University back in the 90's. There I did a great library event with the even greater Cori McCarthy. OU was out for the summer so the crowd was small, but we had a great time. If all goes well, McCarthy and I hope to take our comedy stylings on the road soon.

This is my book in the Athen's Little Professor Bookstore, where I used to sit and read the comics for free because I couldn't afford them.

4. Pickerington Teen Book Festival

This was a lot of fun. I did a panel, a speed-dating thing, and an autograph session. I also brought my wife with me, so it was a business-y date date thing, as well. I hand sold a lot of books here, as well, and got lucky when a relative showed up and bought nine (!) books. Now if only I can get every relative of mine to buy nine copies of my book, I can retire.

Keynote speaker Gene Luen Yang absolutely killing. He's amazing.

5. OWP Reading

I started writing after attending Miami University's Ohio Writing Project summer session back in 2002-ish. So I was thrilled to get invited back in July to read to the latest crop of writers. I had a great time, listened to great readers, and had this terrible picture taken of me.

Other items:

1. So people are reading my book.

No, seriously, it's weird to say, and maybe obvious to you, but people are reading my book...and some of them are not related to me! I get messages and notes from teachers and students (and others, too), and sometimes they send me great pictures like this one from my good friend and teacher (and great writer) Kimberly Gabriel.

2. German bulls!

The German edition of DON'T GET CAUGHT came out in July, and it's been fun using Google Translate to read the reviews....or at least try to read. Have you ever used Google Translate? It's like reading after you've had a quart of Nyquil and have taken a hammer to the forehead.

3. What's next?

The question I get most about DON'T GET CAUGHT is whether or not there will be a sequel. The answer to that is easy--maybe. Maybe there will be. Honestly, Sourcebooks is waiting to see how sales are before committing. How are sales, you ask? My agent says they're going "nicely", which may be the bookselling equivalent of "he/she has a great personality", I don't know. So instead of going full boar?/bore? on a sequel, I'm getting up every morning at 3:30 to work on my YA detective novel. How's it going? Nicely. (Define that as you'd like.)

4. Books by the Banks

I'll be appearing at Cincinnati's Books by the Banks on October 15th, doing a panel, and an author game of charades in the teen room. It should be a great time. Come see me!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

I've talked on here before about how there needs to be more humor-based YA, how while teen life does have its serious issues, it can also be fun and funny, and YA should better represent that. That's probably why I enjoyed Anna Breslaw's SCARLETT EPSTEIN HATES IT HERE as much as I did. It's a hilarious and much needed addition to the YA landscape, full of pop culture references and Scarlett's own twisted view of the world. Below is an interview I did with Breslaw about her novel:

Breslaw: I’m Anna Breslaw. My middle name is Stacy, unfortunately. (Anna Stacy—why not just go for Anastasia, right? Only my parents have the answer to that.) I am 28 years old and live in Manhattan and write freelance for websites and magazines as an especially fun “day job.” Bam. Fifty!

Me: Your author bio reads like a writer’s dream list--you’ve written for Cosmo, New York Magazine, Jezebel…how, if at all, did your approach to writing Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here differ from writing for those publications?

Breslaw: When you have 800 to 1,000ish words max (which is often the standard with women’s magazines), you want the first draft you turn in to be as clear and polished as possible. With the book, I felt a lot more freedom to throw shit at the wall and have fun and let other people like my agent decide what stuck, although I definitely went back and cut/changed stuff myself beforehand.

Me: SEHIH is a pop culture junkie’s paradise. Did you have rules for what references you’d include? Did you ever worry, “No kid born in the 2000’s would understand this reference”?

Breslaw: I should’ve thought about that more! Ha. Oh well. Buffy was my main touchstone for the fake show Scarlett loves, and judging by the treasure trove of Tumblr gifs, teens are pretty familiar with Buffy. I also know that there are tons of twentysomething-and-up folks who read YA, so I guess I just stuck with what I knew, mostly, and hoped most of the references would be understood. I picked my battles, also. Like there’s a Se7en joke in the book that was purely for my own gratification.

Me: What really pleased me with your novel was just how funny it is. I think a lot of YA takes itself very seriously, like all teens want to read is about heavy issues. Scarlett is dealing with serious issues, yes, but it’s written in such a way that there’s a levity to how she sees the world and approaches her problems. How did you approach writing about her life and problems with humor, while being respectful of those problems?

Breslaw: I tended as a teenager to see things and/or deal with problems in a similar way to Scarlett, so that made it pretty easy. Oh! Kind of a related story: When I was in college I wrote a short story in creative writing class, and I was really intent on making it all ~*~* serious and heavy~*~*~ or whatever, and I didn’t intentionally make it funny at ALL. But when I got it back, the professor had written something like, “The humor makes it sting. A+” and I was like... oh, maybe that’s what I do. Obviously there is a place for super-dark-and-non-jokey YA novels, and I’m sometimes jealous of people who have the ability to write them, but I’m just not that kind of writer.

Me: Where does your sense of humor come from? Are there specific writers and comedians who influenced your humor?

Breslaw: Everybody in my family is funny, my mom and dad and two little sisters—like, whip-smart New York Jewish funny—so it’s pretty clear to me that’s a big part.

And, yes, I’ve seen a ton of standup, and comedy in general, and that’s definitely influenced me in kind of a complicated way, in that it’s made me think a lot about the idea of “punching up” (jokes/material that targets powerful, evil, usually ruling majority forces of some kind) versus “punching down” (jokes/material about individuals you’re judging as “dumb,” “trashy,” “shallow” or whatever). There’s something incredibly Slytherin to me about picking on people who you consider low-brow or intellectually inferior because often it’s just a condescending way to be classist, racist, sexist... it’s lazy, I guess.

Being funny is like having a power, and it’s up to you to decide how to use that power, and I definitely abused it when I was younger, kind of like Scarlett does. Her arc sort of echoes mine, in terms of how someone uses their talent/sense of humor or whatever. She goes from a punching-down funny girl—i.e. her target is “my slutty dumb mom” and “that slutty dumb popular girl”—and maturing into a punching-up funny girl—i.e. her target is pretentious white dudes who love Jonathan Franzen.

Me: Okay, I have to ask--Was Ruth, the pot smoking, grandmotherly friend of Scarlett’s based on Ruth Gordon of Harold and Maude fame? Because man, that’s who I picture das I read the book!

Breslaw: In my first draft, totally. But by the end, I was thinking of her more as a stern, no-bullshit Fran Lebowitz type, in menswear. That felt like more of a boss feminist role model to me.

Seriously, you need to see Harold and Maude

Me: Now the obnoxious fan question--what’s next?

Breslaw: I’m working on my second thing—another first-person YA book—which is darker than my debut in terms of subject matter, and definitely requires more research and thought, but hopefully it’ll be even funnier too, in a black-comedy way.

Me: Lightning round time! I’ll give you five questions you don’t need to overthink or explain. Think of this as a way for readers to get to know things about you they probably won’t glean (vocabulary word!) from other interviews. And since your novel is filled with pop culture references, all questions will be centered on popular culture. Here we go:

Breslaw: Scarlett’s identity is tied to her fan fiction and the following she’s gained online. If you had a secret online identity writing fan fiction, what show, book, or movie’s characters would you love to write about?

I wrote fic in my youth: Harry Potter and Buffy, mostly. Lately, I’ve been binge-watching You’re The Worst, and writing fic for that show would be really fun. Lindsay (Kether Donahue) is my favorite character, so I’d probably write about her.

Me: You’re in need of a good cry. What movie or TV show scene gets the waterworks going every time?

Breslaw: This is incredibly random, but you know that SNL digital short Sad Mouse, with Bruno Mars? The end gets me every time.

Me: You’re in a bad mood and need to laugh right NOW. What online clip makes you laugh every time? (Bonus points for the link!)

Me: Dinner party time! Anyone you invite must attend. What one rocker, one writer, one actor/actress, and one miscellaneous person are you forcing to show up? (And yeah, they must be alive because dead people are buzz killers.)

Breslaw: Carrie Brownstein, Carrie Brownstein and Carrie Brownstein.

A double threat: She can rock your face off or make your throat bleed from laughing.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Robin Reul and I have become good friends over the last year because not only do we (almost) share a release date for our debut novels, but because we share a publisher and a love for all things snarky. When I get confused or irritated or stressed about my book release, she's who I email. Her debut novel, MY KIND OF CRAZY is everything I want in a YA novel--It's damn funny, fast-moving, honest, and, stealing from the title, kind of crazy. It had better find a huge audience because it deserves it. Robin and I swapped interviews, and here's the one I did with her.Oh, and here's one she did with me!

Me: Okay, since you’re a debut novelist and not an infamous
criminal or celebrity--least as far as I know--you should introduce
yourself.You get 50 words.Go!

Robin: There was
that one incident with a stolen grape pixie stick when I was a kid, but it
broke in my pocket, so…karma. I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I grew up on
film sets and dabbled in acting, film and TV production but now write
full-time.

Me: Okay, before we continue, we have to talk about the
growing up on film sets thing because you’ve posted great pics on
Facebook.So go ahead, name drop!What rich and powerful people were you best
friends with?And yes, I will ask for
photographic evidence later.

Robin: I have been fortunate enough to meet lots of
different wonderful actors and actresses as a result, and had some enviably
cool experiences, to be sure. So to answer your question, I wasn’t best friends
with any but have had the pleasure of meeting, and in some cases getting to
know many.

My favorite, by far: When I was five, my father worked on a
film called SILVER STREAK with Gene Wilder. Yes, as in Willy Wonka. Gene and I
instantly became friends, and we would hang out. He even baby-sat me a few times
so my parents could grab dinner. We kept in touch for years, exchanging letters
back and forth. I looked forward to visiting my Dad at work on the 20th
Century Fox lot because then I could visit Gene. He had an office just down the
hall, and he would always welcome me in to hang out. I still have all his
letters and reassure them, though we haven’t talked since I was in my
mid-twenties. I feel lucky to have had that kind of a unique childhood
experience.

For the most part, they were just normal people to me who
flitted in and out of my life. But the one who left me star struck? Hands down
my teenage crush come to life when I met him on the set of the Karate Kid:
Ralph Macchio. Random trivia: It still says “Robin loves Ralph 1984” in the
sidewalk in front of my childhood home.

Me: See, and since we both write YA, if this was a novel and
we were friends back then, we could have teamed up to split up Ralph Macchio
and Elisabeth Shue, his girlfriend in Karate Kid.That’s your new novel idea right there, free
of charge!

This is such a perfect representation of the 80's for countless reasons.

Did growing up in an entertainment environment nudge you
toward becoming a writer?Are there
lessons you learned in your time in “the business” that you’ve carried over to
your writing career?

Me: I’m sure it probably did, because I grew up with
entertainment and story as the center of my world. My writing tends to be very
cinematic and dialogue driven. When I’m crafting a scene, it’s literally
playing out like it’s a movie in my head. I’ve definitely learned several
lessons from my time growing up and working in the film industry that I’ve
carried over into my writing life. First and foremost, pay it forward. Take all
you’ve learned, remember the amazing people who you met along the way who
mentored you and showed you the ropes and opened the doors, and be that person
for someone else. Also, make sure every scene serves a purpose. Less is more.
Unless a scene is furthering the plot or establishing a character, no matter
how beautifully written, consider eliminating it. And last but not least, be
nice and don’t burn bridges. Cultivate friendships, not contacts.

Kurt: See, I think that’s why I liked MY KIND OF CRAZY so
much, you don’t waste the reader’s time.Everything is there for a reason, and you don’t go on long,
introspective ramblings by your characters, which personally always bore
me.Less is more, as you say.Did the book start out this way, or did you
end up cutting back significantly after your first draft?What was the process the novel went through?

Me: I think a first draft always goes on too long. Yes,
there were definitely places that had to be condensed and cut back, but the
overall story is largely intact as it was originally written. Altogether I
think this book had about eight drafts. The earlier ones had more to do with
developing story, and the later ones focused on amplifying character
development. The first few went just to trusted beta readers, then about draft
four it went to my agent where we worked together to craft the draft that
ultimately went on submission. Once the book was acquired, it underwent three
additional drafts: overall, line edits and copy edits.

I love, love, love the sparkler-fonted title!

Kurt: The novel itself takes a serious turn halfway through
that I found surprising…not in a bad way, just in an unexpected way.Was that your intention all along?You keep a good portion of the tone and mood
light, but it’s not the fun and games it started off as.Did you ever second guess this choice?Did you get any pushback on it?

Me: Great question. I did know I wanted the tone to get
darker, I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do that when I set out writing.
The twist honestly came for me as it does for the reader. I didn’t see it
coming until I started working on the scene and that’s what flowed out and I
liked it. I didn’t second-guess it, because I knew the characters needed
something of that magnitude to propel them in the directions of where they
needed to go by the end of the story. The pushback I received during
submissions was more subjective and had more to do with an individual’s
feelings or moral compass about the choices Hank and Peyton make when things
turn serious. To me, that’s what makes the book more realistic and honest, and
I wouldn’t want to change that. I’m grateful my editor shared my opinion and I
didn’t have to compromise it.

Kurt: Okay, to wrap it up with the lightning round.5 questions you can answer however you
want--with explanation or without.It’s
a chance for your readers to get to know things about you they wouldn’t
normally know.Here we go:

1. Hank makes a disastrous promposal at the beginning of the
novel that sets everything in motion.Thinking back on your high school life, what’s the biggest screw-up you
made?

Robin:

2. Hank and his friend swear that one day they will take on
the eating challenge of the How High Burger in a local restaurant.What food do you think you could eat the most
of to the point of explosion in one sitting?

Robin: Sushi. Which is ironic because if you ever told me
even five years ago that raw fish would become my favorite food I would be
amused. But I could eat my weight in salmon sushi and tuna sashimi.

3. At one point the kids sneak into a strip club.What’s a place you snuck into?

Robin: Wow, I am so boring, because I think the most risqué
place I ever snuck into was probably a movie theater to see another movie after
the one I’d paid for was finished. Sometimes I’d do it two or three times in
the same day. I was never particularly daring.

4.Video clip
time!Watch this video, which is fitting
to your novel, and tell me your reaction:

Robin: Oh wow. All the feelings. My heart went out to both
of them in different ways. You work up the courage to put yourself out there,
and the worst thing is when it doesn’t go as planned. It cuts like a knife and
you feel so vulnerable. But when the girl realized what was going on, it was so
raw and real knowing how she’d hurt him. You could practically see her beating
herself up. I’m just glad she said yes! I’m a sucker for happy endings!

5.Dinner party!You can invite one rocker, one
actor/actress, and one miscellaneous person.Who are you inviting?(All
living, please.)

Robin: Musician: Alanis Morrissette (Gotta find out the
person she wrote YOU OUGHTA KNOW about), one actor/actress: Kevin Spacey (I
could watch him read the phone book and be elated), and one miscellaneous
person: William Shakespeare (I would think he has some pretty great stories)

Kurt: Very nice!And
to really wrap it up--I was lying before--I’ll give you the last word.

Robin: I’ve been accused of the need to have that before.
Ha! My last words here are just thanks. Writing has brought me so many
wonderful things: a creative outlet, amazing friendships and a community of
people I am so honored to be a part of, and with the release of MY KIND OF
CRAZY, the fruition of a life’s dream. If you really want something, you have
to work hard for it, and faith is half the battle. I am so grateful for
everyone who ever pushed me to work harder, think bigger, and believe. Some
day, I would love to buy you all an overpriced caffeinated beverage of your
choice. :)

I'll try not to get too sappy about this, but yes, my debut novel, DON'T GET CAUGHT is being released today. I'm a bit freaked out about the whole thing, and it also has me feeling a bit nostalgic.

The book at a B&N on Long Island, the first sighting (two days early!)

Here's the short version of how I ended up here: I started writing back in the summer of 2002 as part of the Ohio Writing Project, a program at Miami University where I was starting work on my Master's degree. Lots of people were writing personal narratives, but I quickly ran out of drama in my life to write about, and turned to writing horror short stories instead. A couple of years later I ended up at Tom Monteleone's Borderland's Writing Workshop in Maryland, fell in with a great group of writers who helped and pushed me, published a handful of short stories, moved on to writing a novel which didn't sell, and then onto something much more me -- DGC, a novel of over-the-top pranks, anti-authoritarianism, lots of juvenile humor, and hopefully some laugh out loud moments. I think most people will dig it.

The last few months have kept me busy with writing guest blog entries and doing whatever promotional work I can dream up. Mostly, I've been breaking most of the good advice writers gave me by checking and rechecking my sales rankings, my Goodreads' reviews, and Googling my own name. I've been fortunate in that (most of) the reviews have been very positive, and nothing has made me want to put my head in the oven. At least not yet.

Brooks Benjamin's hilarious note in a DGC arc.

If anything, I've struggled with the lack of control I have over the whole thing. The book's finished, the promotional materials have been delivered, the arcs out and reviewed, and at this point, the stores have their copies. I have an extreme case of "Now what should I do?" which is hard because the answer is nothing. At this point, I can just hope that people like the book, tell their friends about it, and that it catches on. And if it doesn't, that's fine, too. I've published a novel, something most people will never do. I need to enjoy this moment, enjoy the day, enjoy next week's signing, and move on to the next book.

Cows on the book, inside the book, and now, outside the book, too.

I have a hundred people I could thank, and most of them I hit up in the Acknowledgments at the end of the novel. I've also met a bunch of wonderful writers and people in publishing in the last two years who have become good friends. And a final thanks to all of the reviewers out there who have promoted the book and have given it a fair shake. This book would be dead on the vine without you.Mostly though, I'm thankful for my wife and kids who give me the time and space to write, and put up with my moods when the writing's not going very well. I'll be spending the day with them and celebrating the novel's release probably by visiting a couple of bookstores to see the book and then getting pizza or something. Nothing fancy, just family time and whatnot, the way I like it.

Items definitely necessary for the final prank in the novel.

If you've bought the book, thank you! I hope you enjoy it. If you feel the urge, drop me a line and I'll send you a button or a bookmark or whatever promotional items I have around until I run out. I appreciate the support more than you can know.

Adolescent prank wars summon up all the ingenuity, madness, and vengefulness with which adolescents wrestle. Sixteen-year-old narrator Max Cobb and four of his classmates fall for a prank that leaves them looking guilty on top of a just-vandalized school water tower when the security guard turns on the spotlight. Ridiculed as the “Water Tower 5,” they blame the anonymous Chaos Club, a decades-old school institution with a reputation for legendary pranks. Max sees himself as gullible, boring, ordinary—“Just Max”—but with considerable knowledge of heist movies. Heist rule #7 is “Always get payback.” The Water Tower 5 use a series of outrageous pranks, hoping to draw out and expose the Chaos Club members. As the pranks escalate beyond clever raunchiness into meanness, Max has serious reservations. By the time he renounces the prank war, he has survived suspension, arrest, and a major double-cross, but he is sure about his own values.

The other members of the Water Tower 5—two girls and two boys—are well drawn. Each contributes a realistic backstory and personal flavor to the plot. Teen readers will delight in the way such totally different individuals begin to cooperate to triumph over their wrongs. Several of the adult characters, especially the vice principal, are exaggerated fascist stereotypes, so it is easy to root against them. Although the pranks never quite lose their clever charm, they do cost two adults their jobs. In the end, readers will have to detach themselves from the Water Tower 5, and they may also feel double-crossed by a late plot surprise.—Katherine Noone

VOYA’S REVIEW CODE

5Q

Hard to imagine it being better written.

4Q

Better than most, marred by occasional lapses.

3Q

Readable, without serious defects.

2Q

Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q.

1Q

Hard to understand how it got published, except in relation to its P rating (and not even then sometimes).

Thursday, March 10, 2016

I loved Jenny Manzer's SAVE ME, KURT COBAIN. I found it incredibly ballsy --taking one of the most iconic figures of the 90's, and a dead one at that, and using him as a central(ish) figure in a novel that poses the question: What if you discovered that Kurt Cobain was not only alive, but might be your real father? Plus, Manzer uses Nirvana songs for all of the chapter titles, and "Sliver", one of my favorites of theirs, plays a big role in the novel. What's not to love? Go read this book NOW. Oh, and we share an agent, the amazing Kerry Sparks of LGR, so that's pretty cool, too. I talked with Manzer in a series of emails. That conversation is below.

----

Me:So let’s start
with the basics, who in the heck are you?You get 50 words…go!

Jenny:I am a writer,
journalist, runner, and reader. I live in Victoria on the west coast of Canada
with my family. I am a fan of whales, birds, dogs, hiking, sarcasm, travel,
basketball, and indy music. Recently, I’ve been getting into amateur
baseball—something I never saw coming.

Me:Wait, I know this
is already off topic, but amateur baseball?Explain.

Jenny:Well, I mean
that I used to dislike baseball. I grew up in Toronto, and went to Blue Jays
games, and found them boring—even though I come from a sports-loving family.
But then last year my son started playing ball, and it turns out he is pretty
good. I learned more about the sport as I cheered him on, and my daughter
started playing softball. Now I take my kids to local games, like the Victoria
HarbourCats, which is a West Coast collegiate league. This week I learned what
a balk is! Seriously, I think I only mentioned it because it is so out of
character. But you know what? Baseball is
stories. I think that’s what I like about it—and the characters at the
games.

Me:Okay, now that
we’ve cleared that up, we need to start with the question you’re not supposed
to ask writers, and I try to never ask, but in your case, I have to.Where in the hell did the idea for this story
come from?Did it grow from Kurt Cobain
on out, or start with Nico and then you added Cobain later?I ask because I think it’s a ballsy novel to
write for various reasons--more on this later--but am totally curious not only
how you came up with the idea, but how you developed it.So, spill it.

Cool cover, right?

Jenny:The idea for
SAVE ME, KURT COBAIN started germinating after I read an article about a club
in Victoria, Harpo’s Cabaret—a place I frequented in university, sometimes to
do interviews for the campus newspaper. This article on the club noted that
although Harpo’s had landed a lot of great bands, they’d missed out on booking the
biggest one, Nirvana, right before the band went galactic. Nirvana ended up
playing this ridiculous bar, The Forge, in March of 1991. This “one that got
away” story got me thinking about the band’s early days, and also all the crazy
stories that follow celebrities.Then I
started imagining this lonely girl, Nico, and how much a teenage girl can want
to believe something. (There are photos of the Victoria gig at The Forge on my
website here: http://www.jennymanzer.com/2015/05/nirvana-in-victoria-the-show-almost-no-one-saw/
if anyone is interested.) Then, I became pretty consumed in reading about Kurt
Cobain and listening to Nirvana. I would say I became more of a fan rather than
starting as a huge fan. My appreciation grew.

Me:Well, and that’s
what I meant earlier when I mentioned it’s a ballsy novel to attempt.You’ve chosen one of the most notorious and
beloved pop culture figures of the last twenty-five years, a guy who’s death
inspired suicides, and who was labeled the spokesperson of his generation.Was there any reluctance to using Kurt Cobain
as the figure of Nico’s obsession and quest?

Jenny:I knew what I
was taking on—but there was no real reluctance. The story is about Nicola
Cavan, age 15, a lonely girl in Victoria whose mother disappeared when she was
four. The plot hinges on this March 1991 Nirvana concert in Victoria, and the
healing power of music, and the Pacific Northwest, and so many other things. In
short—it had to be Kurt Cobain. I couldn’t tell the story I wanted to
otherwise.

Even though it is fiction, I definitely took the fact that I
writing about a real person, whose loved ones are still living, very seriously.
I think because I knew my own intentions, which was to tell the story of a girl
using music and a desire to believe to fight her way out of a dark place—that
helped me overcome those fears and keep writing.

In the end, most readers seem to feel the book is a real
tribute to the complicated character of Kurt Cobain—with his quirks, and humor,
and warmth, and demons—and his incredible musical legacy. I hope that is the
case, but I am prepared for the fact that, as you suggest, some people may be
annoyed that I wrote about him.

Me:I think you’re
right, this is a novel about Nico, not Cobain.In fact, when I finished the novel I thought that you could’ve
substituted any other dead iconic figure for Cobain and the book, while
different, would still have been Nico dealing with her pain.Although Save Me, John Belushi wouldn’t have
the same appeal to YA readers, most likely.

Speaking of Nico, what I found astounding was just how far
in her head you went.I can’t think of
the last novel I read where I really felt like I fully understood the character
this well.How did you create Nico, and,
as a sort of follow-up, did you struggle with her behavior and choices?Because, I’ll be honest, if she was my kid,
it’s possible she’d be grounded until she was 80.

Jenny:I am so happy
you felt you understood Nico. I guess I started with the defining moment in her
life, which was her mother promising to return—and then never coming back. I
knew Nico had to resemble Cobain physically, and she also shares some of his
other traits, such as a talent for visual art. She had to love music, and
obviously she’d be self-reliant, having spent many nights alone while the man
she calls her father, the loving but stoic Verne, worked nights as a security
guard.Nico definitely needed to have a
sense of humor (as did the real Kurt Cobain, I might add). Oh yes, she also had
to like Strawberry Quik. That was a given.

There are few creatures more determined than a 15-year-old
girl on a mission, so I felt her choices made sense given her drive to find out
what happened to her mother and get answers from “Cobain”—and she feels
betrayed by Verne. It’s true that she puts herself in harm’s way—but these
actions all stem back to a decision to take her life in her own hands rather
than just “acting out.” I regard Nico as basically a good kid, actually,
staying away from the typical drinking or drugging or whatnot—but she couldn’t
continue without knowing the truth. Would I want my daughter to make some of Nico’s
choices? Well, no, but Nico had a tough childhood and faced a lot of
uncertainty.

Me:One of the things
I found really fun in the novel was how you titled all of the chapters after
Nirvana songs.Was that difficult to
do?What was the process of figuring
out what chapter went with what song?Did you find yourself having to alter chapters or the story at all to
fit the songs?Because that’s exactly
what I would see happening if I attempted something like this.

Jenny:The suggestion
to use the songs was a fun idea by Zsuzsi Gartner, a Vancouver-based short
story writer, who provided a manuscript consult on an early draft. I have to
say, it took an entire day to decide which songs to match to which chapters—and
later I had to keep tweaking them as breaks changed. Nirvana has such an
incredible repertoire of songs for a band that did not endure that long, so
this made my job easier. I basically read through each chapter and considered
my Nirvana options. It was sort of fun and tedious at the same time. I had to
think about the intent of the song, too, or at least if the vibe matched. I
didn’t actually change any chapters to fit the songs, though. And some Nirvana songs
I left alone, such as “Mexican Seafood.”

Me: So since you had to listen to lots of Nirvana, I’ll ask
the obvious question - What’s your favorite Nirvana song and why?And no cheating…you get one.

Jenny:Well played,
Kurt—you anticipate my every move. It IS difficult to choose, but I will say I
especially love the opening to “Dive,” and the punk energy and playful-sad
sentiment in “Sliver,” but if I am forced to choose one—I’ll go with “All
Apologies.” A masterpiece.

Okay, so to wrap this up, we’ll have the speed round.I’m going to ask you five questions, of which
you must answer without an explanation.Readers who want more details can contact you.Here we go:

Since you’re a self-described indie music fan, who should
more people be listening to?

Jenny:Whitehorse.

Me:Who would you
like to discover is not, as everyone believes, dead, but is actually holed up
in a cabin in the woods?

Jenny:Going with
someone famous (at least in Canada): Terry Fox.

Me:Here’s $1000 to
spend irresponsibly in two hours.What’s
your plan?

Jenny:Plane tickets
to New York.

Me:In one hour, all
electronics are about to be shut off forever, but you can see one episode of
one TV show before the big darkout?What
are you going to watch?

Jenny:Flight of the
Conchords.

Me:You can invite
one rocker, one writer, one actor/actress, and one miscellaneous person to your
party.Assuming all of your friends are
going to be there, and knowing that yes, your invitees have to currently be
alive, who are you inviting?

Jenny:Steve Earle,
Jenny Offill, Tina Fey, and Tim Winton.

Me:Thanks for all of
this, Jenny.I’m hoping SAVE ME, KURT
COBAIN is a great success.Now, I’ll
give you the last word.

Jenny: Thank you, Kurt. This has been really fun and I
appreciate your thought-provoking questions. I would definitely invite you
along to my theoretical party! You can sit next to Steve Earle.